Former supermodel Tyra Banks is suing Netflix and its associated entities, and co-directors Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan, for defamation by implication and breach of contract in relation to the 2026 Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model documentary.
Banks, who also was a producer of the show, says she gave the three part series a “three-and-a-half-hour” interview, but it was cut to “about 16 minutes,” Variety reports.
She claims that 16 minutes is taken out of context and “reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.” Her court documents state that the “accountability Ms. Banks took” for some of the show’s shortcomings “ended up on the cutting room floor.”
The suit further says: “The false narrative the producers constructed—through selective editing, deliberate omission, and surgical manipulation of continuous footage—included that Ms. Banks knowingly allowed a contestant to be sexually assaulted on her show, exploited that contestant’s trauma for ratings, and then could not even remember it when asked,” the suit read.
“That narrative about Ms. Banks is a complete fabrication – one that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions.”
Tyra Banks sues Netflix for ANTM documentary
Banks hosted ANTM for 22 years, and was known for her ‘tough love’ advice to young women who dreamed of becoming a high fashion model.
Her approach was examined in the 2026 documentary, and it was not a flattering depiction.
In particular, Banks is now objecting to the way an incident involving contestant Shadni Sullivan was presented. Sullivan says she was set up by producers to become intoxicated and cheat on her boyfriend. The fallout was a pivotal moment in the show, but Banks is implied to not remember it.
The suit says, “The implication is devastating and deliberate: that Tyra Banks cannot even remember the story of the woman who was assaulted on her show.”
The extraordinary success and cultural impact of ‘ANTM’ is undeniable. Image: CBS
Why ‘Reality Check: Inside ANTM’ needs a major reality check itself
Mediaweek earlier published an opinion on the Netflix documentary. The portrayal of Banks is certainly not flattering. However, Banks did say the things that make her appear uncaring and unapologetic.
It was especially noted that the contestants were treated poorly, and Banks was in control of that.
“In the young women’s desperation for a chance at the American dream, series after series of applicants were exploited, belittled, lied to, misled about the career they would have, hounded, suffered from fake narratives, were encouraged to eat less/starve, dehydrate for fear of bloating, forced to make major changes to their bodies (hair and teeth especially) and forbidden from contacting family and friends for support.
“That list is not exhaustive.
“There was the woman who “cheated” on her boyfriend after producers made the decision to ply her with alcohol and film the consequences.
“The model whose mother was fatally shot when she was a child, and then was forced to role-play a shooting victim in the name of an advertising campaign.
“Model Giselle, like almost everyone else, was brutally fat-shamed to the point that she admits:
“Why does my ass have to be so wide? That’s how I talk to myself to this day.”